agentRed

Hey guys, long time no see! :)

Alright, I need a new processor for my system. This Pentium D 805 2.66Ghz (stock speed) is shorting out and stuff and it's really becoming a problem. My computer randomly restarts all the time and it's quite a hassle. It's getting worse and yeah, time for a new one.

I figured out after a lot of testing and such...that the restarts were being caused by my power supply shutting down because of a short in the circuit. The short was in the CPU (weird, I know). One of the contact points on the back of the processor is blackened.

I've gone through every possible scenario and tested every part individually. It's definitely the CPU.

Now, the question is what should I replace this dusty thing with? A newer pentium D? I was thinking about the Pentium D 935 OEM processor which is $115 (+5 for S&H) on the EGG. I forget the exact specs for the 805...but how much better is the 935 than the 805? If I'm not mistaken the 805 uses 90nm technology while the 935 uses 65nm. Plus, the 805 has a FSB of 5(33?)MHZ while the 935 has a FSB of 800MHZ. Now...in the manual for my motherboard, which is a Gigabyte DS3 (REV. 3.3), it states you must have a minimum 800MHZ FSB to utilize Dual Channel memory. Right now I've got 2GB (4x512MB) (2 matched kits) of Mushkin DDR2 800. So, that means, if the manual is right, that I'm not running Dual Channel right now because the FSB speed of the 805 is under 800MHZ.

How much of a difference is this going to make? I mean...I know Dual Channel is a big deal but...how much of a big deal?

I guess it comes down to this: Should I get the Pentium D 935 3.2GHz or a Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHZ which has a FSB of 1333MHZ but is also just under 200 (194.99 + free shipping) dollars?

Would the difference between the 935 and the C2D E6750 be worth the extra 75 bucks?

TheMatt

Hi Red,

First, which gigabyte board is it? DS3 is just a sort of a board 'class' Gigabyte uses in there model scheme. There are many DS3 boards.

If your board does support the 1333 MHz FSB, definitely go for the E6550 or E6750 which will be much faster than the 805.

If not, the E6400 is still a very good processor. Any of the C2D processors will be a big step up from any Pentium D 8xx series and will believe it or not consume a lot less power & produce a lot less heat. The 8xx series was notorious for high power consumption and heat production.

1 g0t 0wn3d

I can vouch for that as i have one they are not worth looking into unless you a interested in cheap power (one for $50 on tiger) for an office pc limits gpu in games from 2003

agentRed

Oh yeah, there's a sticker on the motherboard box stating "supports 1333mhz FSB processors". It also supports quad core CPUs.

I'm pretty certain it's the 965P-DS3 motherboard. But, it's really a moot point since I know it supports the 1333MHZ FSB.

Now, I have two other questions.

First, is this processor change going to make pretty much every aspect of usage, faster? Like, burning CDs, playing games, all that? With my memory and video card and this processor I should be able to play all of the latest games at 100% full graphics and everything, right? (See drop-down for system specs). Is it likely that this Pentium D 805 is bottle-necking my video card?

Second, is there any reason why the E6600 is more expensive than the E6750? It's got a slower FSB speed and slower clock speed...so why is it more expensive? Shouldn't the E6750 be MORE expensive than the E6600 and not less?

Thanks for all your help guys, 'preciate it :)

1 g0t 0wn3d

Your system is as fast as the slowest part.

And they are trying to push there new line of cpus making them cheaper

TheMatt

With gaming you probably will notice a slight FPS increase. Also, things like Virus Scans may go a bit faster. The biggest benefit I see however is the reduced heat production and power consumption.

To answer your other question, Intel is trying to push the industry to the 1333 MHz FSB processors and away from the 1066 MHz FSB processors. I am not exactly sure why (I do have a few guess though), however that is why the E6600 is more expensive. They dropped the price of the 1333 MHz FSB CPUs but not the 1066 MHz FSB CPUs.

linderman

the diff in the two processors is not going to be a "wow" thing


but you will get plenty of benefit to warrant the extra $75.00 of cost for the E6750

agentRed

Ahh...

So...you're saying that I'll only see a slight FPS increase between the Pentium D 805 and the E6750? Or between the 935 and the E6750?

So...more than doubling the FSB and getting dual channel memory is not going to make much of a difference in computing? Is that what I'm understanding you to be saying? That's a bit of a disappointment...as old as this PD805 is...

TheMatt

The thing is gaming is depending less and less on the CPU. However if you were to run for example 3DMark06 you would get a much higher score because it has a couple CPU tests in it. Also, your SuperPi times will probably be cut in half.

In everyday computing (internet, e-mail, word processing, etc.) however you will not notice much of a difference.

Not to sound 'nit-picky', but you are not quite doubling the FSB. You are going from 6.4 GB/s to 10.6 GB/s. The FSB bandwidth increase will probably be just as important to the overall performance increase as the better architecture of the Conroe core compared to the Smithfield.